>Following the initial Confederate attack at Beaver Dam Creek, Fitz-John Porter withdrew three miles east and dug in along Boatswain's Creek.

>Following the initial Confederate attack at Beaver Dam Creek, Fitz-John Porter withdrew three miles east and dug in along Boatswain's Creek. There, nearly 2/3rds of the Army of Northern Virginia, six divisions and 60,000 men, confronted 30,000 Union troops in three divisions. A.P. Hill's division attacked first and was repulsed. Longstreet was also repulsed, and attacks by D.H. Hill on the Union right flank met with no more success. Jackson and Ewell's divisions launched further disjointed attacks. As the sun was going down, William Whiting's division was thrown into action. Spearheaded by John Hood's Texas Brigade, they smashed through the Union line, which was getting tired and low on ammunition. Porter ordered a retreat. Reinforcements from the II and VI Corps were sent from south of the Chickahominy to cover the withdrawal.

>Brig. Gen John F. Reynolds was captured in the retreat. He found himself presented to D.H. Hill, an old army colleague of his. The ever-sarcastic Hill remarked "Do not think it all bad, Reynolds, for such is the way of war." Reynolds was held in Libby Prison in Richmond and released a month later in a prisoner exchange. Three Confederate generals were wounded: George Pickett, who would be out of action until the fall, Winfield Featherston, who returned to action in time for the Second Bull Run campaign, and Arnold Elzey, who was badly wounded and forced to retire from field command; for the rest of the war he served an administrative role in the defenses of Richmond and as the Army of Tennessee's chief of artillery during the 1864 campaigns.